"May 4th Movement" from the American Perspective? The words are ridiculous and the heart is ridiculous!
——Refutation of US politicians' distortion of the May 4th spiritual error (2)
On May 4, Matt Portingje, Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Affairs, delivered a speech in Chinese at the Miller Center of the University of Virginia, distorting the "May Fourth Spirit" as "popularism", denying history, and denigrating China A so-called "Chinese May Fourth Spirit from the American Perspective" was "made up", which caused a stir in public opinion at home and abroad. So, why would an American politician "provok" the topic of the May 4th spirit?
In fact, since the outbreak of the New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic, various slanders and farce against the Chinese from the government to the media have emerged in the United States. The emergence of Portinger's "May 4th Spirit" theory is not surprising, it is just a trick in the "big mess" of the US epidemic.
Matt Portinger, who is there? If you carefully review this person's career and "glorious performance", it is not difficult to find that this time he borrowed the "May Fourth Spirit" to make a big fuss, which is really hideous and mischievous. Portingje majored in Chinese at the University of Massachusetts. From 1998 to 2005, he served as a correspondent for Reuters and the Wall Street Journal in China for 7 years. He has conducted many field interviews in China for a long time. Concerned about "hot topics" such as China's environment, energy, poverty, and anti-corruption, he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. After returning to the United States in 2005, Portinger joined the US Marine Corps, and later began to serve the Trump administration under the recommendation of national security adviser Flynn. Although Potinger is fluent in Chinese and has worked in China for many years, he is not a "pro-Chinese school" or "intellectual Chinese school." On the contrary, he has a strong Cold War mentality for China. "Washington Post" has deeply carried out a series of operations on the policy of China. For example, in 2017, he helped formulate the Trump Administration ’s first National Security Strategy, officially defining China as a strategic competitor; in 2019, he pushed Trump ’s decision to suppress Huawei and prepare for 5G in the United States. Huawei's business is included in the entity list of the Ministry of Commerce. Since the outbreak of the New Crown epidemic, the Trump administration has repeatedly changed its attitude towards China, and there is no lack of careful design by Potinger. For example, he was the first official to propose a Trump travel ban to China in January. As the person responsible for the evaluation of WHO ’s financial assistance within the White House, he also supported Trump ’s April announcement to freeze the WHO Funding. For example, the United States has fabricated rumors about the accidental spread of the New Crown Virus in the Wuhan laboratory. Potinger is the one who promoted this rumor. He tried to persuade the US intelligence service to politicize and conspiracy the origin of the virus. For example, the farce to reduce the number of Chinese media stationed in the United States and artificially create barriers to exchanges between the two countries was also implemented under the strong impetus of Potinger, but in this speech, thieves called for thieves and blamed China for "deporting" foreign journalists. .
Above all, let us clearly see the "anti-China pusher" Potinger, relying on some of his shallow understanding of China, chose to publish distorted remarks on the "May 4th Spirit" in Chinese, deliberate, scheming, and trying to be smart. Zhihua's outerwear, starting from the familiar theme of the May Fourth Movement, reached the goal of deconstructing the Chinese spirit and the Chinese road, but unfortunately, the ideological prejudice full of his speech has already exposed his political blackmailing tricks. Nothing more.
As Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said, Bottinger thinks he knows China very well, but judging from this speech, he does not really understand China, let alone understand the spirit of the May Fourth Movement. His speech is full of mistakes, Full of American arrogance. For example, he even said in a daunting manner: "With the help and mediation of the United States, an agreement was reached at the Washington Naval Conference in 1922, and China withdrew Shandong." The fact is that the "Nine Nations Convention" reached at this Washington conference allowed " "Equal opportunity" and "open door" became the basic principles for the powers to invade China. From then on, the situation of aggression jointly controlled by the United States and imperialism in Britain and Japan was formed. As Mao Zedong said, the 19th Washington Conference convened by the United States in 1922 signed a convention that brought China back to a situation dominated by several imperialist countries. For example, he has ulterior motives and only cares about the very few voices of his so-called "democratic fighters", but he keeps silent on the medical workers in the United States who have bravely exposed the truth of the epidemic on various social platforms in the United States. Faced with the death toll of nearly one hundred thousand in the epidemic, Potingers simply responded with the phrase "This is life".
For example, his "popularism" is the core of the May 4th spirit. But as everyone knows, "popularism" also has a well-known name "populism". This trend of thought often brings politicians abducted by short-term public opinion, locked in by political procedures and not daring to break through ideological constraints, which is not conducive to the long-term development of the country, and may even make politics go out of order. Today's US anti-epidemic performance perfectly demonstrates the prevalence of populism. Portinger equated the May 4th Movement with "populism", which is a forgery of history and a blasphemy of the May 4th spirit. General Secretary Xi Jinping once profoundly pointed out that the May 4th Movement broke out at the time of national distress. It was a great anti-imperialist and feudal revolutionary movement with the advanced young intellectuals as the vanguard and the broad masses of people. It was a Chinese people. The great social revolution movement that was launched to save the national crisis, defend national dignity, and unite national strength is a great ideological enlightenment and new cultural movement that spreads new ideas, new culture, and new knowledge. The core of the May 4th spirit is patriotism, not at all the “citizen consciousness” and “popularism” that Potting said.
What is even more ridiculous is that even if it is such a blunt and unreasonable "touching porcelain", Potinger's methods and views are not original, but a lot of scholars' views on the May Fourth Movement and the May Fourth Movement. For example, Hu Shi, who was first listed by Potinger as "Chinese who promoted the May 4th spirit", said in his oral autobiography in his later years that the "May 4th Movement was an unfortunate political interference, which transformed a cultural movement into A political movement made the Chinese people's Renaissance halfway. "Hu Shi's point of view is aside, but Potingjie actually regarded such a scholar who held a negative attitude to the May 4th Movement as" a person who promoted the May 4th spirit. " Didn't you lift a stone and hit your feet?
After carefully sorting out the opinions of people from all walks of life, including Potinger, on the May 4th Movement, it can be seen that it was precisely because the May 4th Movement had a significant and far-reaching impact on modern China, and it has always received much attention. For various purposes, various schools have continuously interpreted and interpreted the May 4th Movement itself and its historical role. Some are based on one-sided understanding from different academic perspectives. For example, Liang Shuming opposed the use of "national public opinion" or the justice of the affairs itself as an excuse to deviate from the rule of law and arbitrarily use illegal means, and advocated that students who beat the traitors should be tried by the court. This was regarded as a risk to the world at that time. The unreasonable pedantic view. Some have totally rejected the May 4th Movement based on their political positions. For example, Mou Zongsan, Tang Junyi, and Xu Fuguan believed that the May 4th Movement was a passive, destructive, one-sided movement, an all-out anti-traditional, all-Western movement. The result not only led to the "break" of Chinese culture, but also The rise of Marxism in China and the final victory was obviously a backward and backward misconception. Other political forces use the May 4th spirit as a tool for political struggle and have repeated attitudes. For example, the Kuomintang's affirmation of the May 4th Movement, from the affirmation during the Great Revolution, to the indifference during the War of Resistance Against Japan, to the strictly forbidden commemorations during the Liberation War and to Taiwan, turned to ambiguous after the 1980s. In addition, forces with ulterior motives have thrown out the viewpoint of historical nihilism, distorting the May 4th Movement "caused by the internal struggle of the Beiyang Government", and reversing the black and white saying that "student trouble" led to the failure of diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, trying to distort the May 4th Movement Historical facts that mislead the public.
The May 4th Movement has an epoch-making milestone in China's modern history. It marks the beginning of a new democratic revolution. Before the May Fourth Movement, Chinese people with lofty ideals dreamed of transforming China with a bourgeois civilization represented by the French civilization. Even when the "Paris Peace Conference" was about to be held, it was full of expectations for Western powers, especially US President Wilson. At that time, Chen Duxiu even expressed emotion that Wilson was the world's largest good man. However, the hypocrisy of the Western powers was quickly uncovered. In the face of the interests of robbers, where would the dignity of China be taken care of! The May 4th Movement was precisely after the Chinese people saw the hypocritical face of the value of Western capitalism and explored another path. Since then, China has embarked on the road of faith in Marxism, ushered in the turning point of national destiny, and under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, this road has been wider and brighter.
In his speech, Portingjie lamented pretendingly, "Where is the spirit of China's May 4th Movement?" "What is its ultimate legacy?" One thing he said was right, that is, only the Chinese people can answer May 4th. What is spirit. The Chinese people have told him with centuries of sacrifice, struggle, struggle, and hard work that the core of the May 4th spirit is the spirit of patriotism, and that "patriotic, progressive, democratic, and scientific" has a common source, that is, the love for the motherland. After going through a common process, that is, exploring the way to save the country and the people, they all have a common goal, which is to realize the prosperity of the country, the rejuvenation of the nation, and the happiness of the people. In the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, we carry forward the great May 4th spirit, which is to uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China, to strengthen the self-confidence, theoretical self-confidence, institutional self-confidence, and cultural self-confidence of the socialist road with Chinese characteristics, in order to realize the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Work tirelessly. This is the answer to Chinese history and the answer to the Chinese people. Portinger's "American perspective" can only be a mere laughter.
Looking back at the present United States, the world's number one power, claiming to be the "lighthouse" of human civilization, and being trapped in the quagmire of the new crown pneumonia epidemic due to its own government's incompetence, is it really embarrassing to talk about the "May Fourth Spirit"? In his speech, Pottinger mentioned with appreciation the Universal Declaration of Human Rights signed in 1948. Did he forget that the Declaration of Human Rights clearly stipulates human rights, including life, freedom, security, not being enslaved or tortured, etc., and The right to life is the most important right of man. But looking at the reality of the United States and the universal value in his mouth, where does the life and death of ordinary people put the most important position? On one side is the clamor of self-revelation "our work is done well", on the other is the reality that the number of diagnoses and deaths are "far ahead" in the world; on the other is the slogan that promotes the so-called "all men are created equal", on the other It is the fact that blacks and Latinos have a higher mortality rate and about one third of deaths are among the elderly. When the global epidemic situation is becoming more and more serious, the United States does not want to unite the forces of all countries to fight against the epidemic and set an example for the world ’s anti-epidemic. Instead, it puts a lot of energy on the government of other countries, the WHO, and other parties. , Careful calculations, careful calculations, everything gave way to votes, and even abandoned basic common sense, let politics override science, and over and over again selectively ignore the advice of experts. This kind of America has already caught people's eyebrows. How can we talk about "democracy" and "science"?
Advise an American politician, represented by Portinger, instead of presumptuously self-asserting China's "May 4th Spirit", it is better to open the long-held and dust-covered "Declaration of Independence" at home, and then carefully examine the resistance of the national government. You may have a clearer understanding of "human rights" in the true manifestations of the epidemic. After 101 years, the imperialism that the May 4th Movement rebelled against remains unshakable, but today ’s China is no longer the one a hundred years ago. If there are still people who try to take the opportunity to dump China and bully China, the Chinese people who inherited the spirit of the May Fourth Movement will never agree.
Finally, give the Potingers a famous quote from Abraham Lincoln, "You can deceive some people at all times, or you can deceive all people for a period of time, but you cannot deceive all at all times. people."
Jin Zhong (Researcher of the Research Center for the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, Central Committee of the Communist Youth League) Source: China Youth Daily